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Stereotypes do injustice to Grand Forks’ North End

GRAND FORKS — Maybe Paul Cline was including himself in the comments he made about poor people in north Grand Forks, although I doubt it, because he was writing from New Mexico (“New library belongs in GF’s North End,” Page A4, Feb. 7).

I, for one, take offense to his comments and to the comments made by the individual who wrote in the last time the library issue came up. That individual insinuated that the North End needed a library because most people on the North End were less educated than those on the South End, and a library would benefit them more.

I wonder if it ever occurred to either writer that some of us “poor, uneducated” people choose to live on the North End because we like the older homes and close-knit neighborhoods. We could live on the South End; we just don’t want to.

Also, does the income distribution map reveal how many people are college students who don’t earn a lot because they’re busy getting an education, or that some residents are older people who have lived on the North End their whole lives? Yes, maybe they are on a fixed income, but it doesn’t mean they are poor.

How about putting the library on the North End simply because we who live here are tired of being slighted by having “the powers that be” treat the South End like it’s the life and livelihood of Grand Forks?

I will probably never use the Choice Health and Fitness Center or eat or shop at any of the businesses in that area because I don’t want to drive that distance just to work out at a new facility. I’ll stick with the centers closer to home; they work just as well as the new one.

Most of us are tired of being treated like second-class citizens just because we choose to live on the North End.

I fully support having a new library because libraries are vital to any municipality. I just hope it is built in a centralized location where it is easily accessible to everyone in Grand Forks.